States with the Most Breweries
All states ranked by number of TTB-permitted breweries.
What This Ranking Tells Us
California leads in total breweries, but Colorado, Oregon, and Michigan punch well above their population weight. The craft beer revolution, which began in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s, has spread nationwide — every state now has at least a handful of craft breweries. States with favorable licensing laws, lower excise taxes, and strong local-drinking cultures tend to have more breweries per capita.
How to Read the States with the Most Breweries
This ranking covers 51 states scored by breweries. The leader is California at 404, with Texas (316) in second place and New York (292) in third. Every number comes from the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) federal permittee database — the same source the federal government uses to track alcohol producers, importers, and wholesalers. The registry is released publicly under FOIA and refreshed as permits are issued, amended, or surrendered.
Raw totals surface the largest state beverage economies but mask very different structures. California, Washington, and New York combine all five permit classes. Other high-ranking states (Kentucky for distilleries, Colorado for breweries) concentrate heavily in a single category. Reading raw totals alongside per-capita rankings gives the clearest picture of how deeply beverage production is embedded in a state relative to its population.
Federal permit counts are not a direct proxy for alcohol consumption, economic output, or public-health risk. State-level ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) rules govern retail access, distribution, and excise tax — all of which shape actual market conditions. NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) tracks per-capita drinking and alcohol-related outcomes separately; a state can rank high in producer counts and low in drinking rates, or vice versa. Use this ranking to understand where federally licensed production lives, then layer state ABC and NIAAA data on top for the full picture. Source: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Federal Permit Registry.
| # | State | Breweries |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 404 |
| 2 | Texas | 316 |
| 3 | New York | 292 |
| 4 | Colorado | 263 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 263 |
| 6 | Ohio | 254 |
| 7 | North Carolina | 245 |
| 8 | Michigan | 219 |
| 9 | Oregon | 218 |
| 10 | Florida | 202 |
| 11 | Washington | 196 |
| 12 | Wisconsin | 182 |
| 13 | Illinois | 179 |
| 14 | Virginia | 172 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | 166 |
| 16 | Minnesota | 150 |
| 17 | Indiana | 112 |
| 18 | Missouri | 104 |
| 19 | Tennessee | 92 |
| 20 | Georgia | 89 |
| 21 | Kentucky | 42 |
| 22 | Alabama | 25 |
| 23 | Alaska | 25 |
| 24 | Arizona | 25 |
| 25 | Connecticut | 25 |
| 26 | Idaho | 25 |
| 27 | Iowa | 25 |
| 28 | Kansas | 25 |
| 29 | Louisiana | 25 |
| 30 | Maine | 25 |
| 31 | Maryland | 25 |
| 32 | Montana | 25 |
| 33 | Nebraska | 25 |
| 34 | Nevada | 25 |
| 35 | New Hampshire | 25 |
| 36 | New Jersey | 25 |
| 37 | New Mexico | 25 |
| 38 | Oklahoma | 25 |
| 39 | Rhode Island | 25 |
| 40 | South Carolina | 25 |
| 41 | South Dakota | 25 |
| 42 | Utah | 25 |
| 43 | Vermont | 25 |
| 44 | Wyoming | 25 |
| 45 | Delaware | 22 |
| 46 | Hawaii | 22 |
| 47 | North Dakota | 22 |
| 48 | West Virginia | 22 |
| 49 | Washington DC | 22 |
| 50 | Arkansas | 18 |
| 51 | Mississippi | 18 |
Source: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), Federal Permit Registry.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many breweries are there in the US?
The TTB tracks approximately 4,800+ federally permitted breweries. This includes everything from large national brands to nano-breweries producing a few hundred barrels per year. The Brewers Association counts slightly differently (including brewpubs) and reports over 9,000 craft breweries, but TTB federal permits capture the core production facilities.
What states are growing fastest in craft beer?
Southern and Mountain West states have seen the fastest percentage growth in brewery permits. States like Tennessee, South Carolina, and Utah have doubled or tripled their brewery counts in the past decade, though they still trail Pacific Northwest and Northeast states in total numbers.
Explore More Rankings
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.